6 Tips for Writing Successful LinkedIn Articles

Back in February, publishing articles on LinkedIn was the hot topic. LinkedIn had finally opened up their publishing platform to all users, which would help them showcase content and improve their credibility. Unfortunately, many are still having trouble making this option really work and getting that visibility that every article needs to thrive.

LinkedIn is a great place to publish articles, it just isn’t a great place to publish any old article you have lying around. You should have a strategy and consider what types of content work best for LinkedIn if you really want to find success.

How to Write Articles that Will Succeed on LinkedIn

LinkedIn sends nearly four times more people to your homepage than Twitter and Facebook, according to a report on Buffer App. It doesn’t necessarily win when it comes to the social sharing of your stories, but it does when talking about direct traffic to your site. In other words, the benefits of publishing here are worth your while.

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1. Pick Topics the LinkedIn Audience Wants to Read

It’s a good rule of thumb to write what you know, but people tend to forget that sometimes what they “know” doesn’t quite fit in with the LinkedIn demographics. If you have a very successful gossip blog, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your great story about Lindsay Lohan’s move to London is going to succeed. For some, LinkedIn actually isn’t the right platform.

The same can be said for those who are trying to simply copy and paste a blog post that they have already written. Although LinkedIn’s algorithm won’t hurt you just yet, this could hurt you if the voice and tone of the post isn’t right for social. LinkedIn’s audience is typically professionals (which is why a gossip column might not be your best bet), but it’s still a social network where people want an opportunity to engage and learn something as opposed to reading the news.

2. Publish Posts Once Per Week and Be Consistent

There is no evidence yet if the frequency that you post articles has anything to do with your chances of being displayed on someone’s network updates, but most are following past influencers’ once-per-week routine.

You want to make sure you’re consistently publishing in order to build a following, but putting too much out there could be overwhelming and hurt your chances of success. Again this isn’t proven, but based on the success of past influencers the once-per-week rule seems to be a good one to follow.

3. Try to Limit Your Posts to 800 Words

Again, remembering the platform where you’re publishing is key. People who are reading articles on LinkedIn are usually looking for something quick, informative and/or entertaining. If they wanted a long-form article or were trying to research something thoroughly, LinkedIn probably wouldn’t be the first place they would check.

4. Internal Linking is Still Relevant

Internal linking is something many make a point to do when publishing on other platforms, but for some reason it’s forgotten when it comes to LinkedIn. You should link to your other LinkedIn posts whenever relevant to help keep people on your page and reading your stuff. Linking out to other LinkedIn articles or even other sources on the web is also a great way to build up your connections and improve a piece of content.

5. Always Respond to Comments

This is something that will certainly help make you more popular and make your articles more valuable, but with LinkedIn it actually goes a step beyond that. LinkedIn has admitted that the more you engage and interact through comments, both on your own articles as well as others, the more authority and influence you will gain with the site:

The more you engage with the platform the more reputation you’ll build, and the more likely members will follow you and your posts. Liking and commenting on other posts are good ways to engage.

6. Check the Analytics

LinkedIn gives you great analytics to show you the success of your articles. This gives you a great opportunity to pay attention to which types of articles are getting the most views, comments, and social shares. Is it a particular topic or subject matter that people are reading, or is it the way you write (such as a “how to” style)?

LinkedIn will actually send you an occasional email letting you know how your posts are doing along with tips to keep in mind for the future. The screenshot below shows the email and the type of information you can get from your posts:

Extra Tip

Promote your article both inside and outside of LinkedIn. Building external links to your posts and sharing the post on your different social channels is going to help your article gain visibility, which is a huge part of content success, no matter where that content was published.